Du gamla, du fria
| English: Thou ancient, Thou free | |
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National anthem of  Sweden
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| Lyrics | Richard Dybeck, 1844 |
| Music | Old Swedish Folk music Arranged by Edvin Kallstenius |
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| Music of Sweden | |
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| Music charts | Sverigetopplistan |
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| Nationalistic and patriotic songs | |
| National anthem | Du gamla, Du fria (de facto) |
"Du gamla, Du fria" (Swedish pronunciation: [dʉː ²ɡamːla dʉː ²friː.a], "Thou ancient, Thou free") is the de facto national anthem of Sweden. It was originally named "Sång till Norden" (pronounced [ˈsɔŋː tɪl ˈnuːɖɛn], "Song to the North"), and the first words of its lyrics have become adopted as the title in the interim.
Although the Swedish constitution makes no mention of a national anthem, Du gamla, Du fria enjoys universal recognition and is used, for example, at government ceremonies as well as sporting events. It first began to win recognition as a patriotic song in the 1890s, and the issue of its status was debated back and forth up until the 1930s. In 1938, the Swedish public service radio company Sveriges Radio started playing it at the end of transmitting in the evenings, which marked the beginning of the de facto status as national anthem the song has had since.
Despite a widespread belief that it was adopted as the national anthem in 1866, no such recognition has ever been officially accorded. A kind of official recognition was when the King Oscar II rose in honour when the song was played, the first time in 1893. In 2000 the Riksdag committee rejected, as "unnecessary", a proposal to give the song legally official status, repeated later. The committee concluded that the song has been established as anthem by the people, not by the political system, and that it is good to keep it that way.
The original lyrics were written by Richard Dybeck in 1844, to the melody of a variant of the ballad Kärestans död. The ballad type is classified as D 280 in The Types of the Scandinavian Medieval Ballad; the variant from Västmanland that Dybeck reproduced is classified as SMB 133 G. It was recorded by Rosa Wretman in the beginning of the 1840s. Dybeck published the traditional text in Folk-lore I, and the melody in 1845 in his Runa, where he also published his new text "Sång till Norden".
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Wikipedia